By Scott Tibbs, April 23, 2014
I roll my eyes and sigh at a lot of the stupid memes that travel around the Internet, and with the advent of social media I am seeing a lot more glurge than I did ten years ago. The world's toughest job video is especially offensive.
First, no matter what the "point" the video's makers were trying to make, the tactics used are cruel, hateful, unethical and mean-spirited. In this depressed economy, with tens of millions out of work, giving people a false hope in order to prank them and put it on YouTube is sick and depraved. Even if the message was a good one, I have no interest in hearing what these people have to say. It is disgusting. I am sure they got a few people who told them what they could do with their prank using very colorful language.
Second, what are the fathers doing while the mothers are doing the "world's toughest job?" I guess we must all be drinking beer, farting and burping. That's all we're good for, apparently. Obviously, the fathers don't rock the baby or give him a bottle at 3:00 am so mommy can sleep. Definitely not. We need to make sure we get plenty of sleep so we can burp and fart and drink beer tomorrow. That is some important work that simply cannot be done if we are helping the women folk with the "world's toughest job."
I am the father of a two-year old and a newborn, so I certainly do not deny that motherhood is difficult. So is fatherhood, and both are difficult in different ways. It is counterproductive, yet typical of our victim culture that we have to elevate our own hardships to being so terrible no one else could bear them, and exaggerate how severe those hardships are. After all, I used to walk four miles to school, barefoot, in 18 inches of snow, uphill both ways. And I had to carry 100 pounds of books on my back after not getting enough to eat that morning.
Finally, this video represents our culture's hatred of children. Motherhood is portrayed as the most grueling and demanding work possible. Children are not a joy, they are a heavy burden. (If you are training them properly, that burden will not only lessen over time, they will start to help.) If people actually believe the nonsense spouted by this video, is it any surprise that many do not want children at all?
